New court, new champion: RR's Searle takes home pickleball world title

ST. GEORGE, Utah — If you ask someone about the game of pickleball, they may mention how it’s a good workout, a nice way to get outdoors or that it’s their uncle’s favorite hobby.

If you ask Rio Rancho native Ashlee Searle about the sport, she will tell you that she’s a world champion.

Searle, with Utah Tech University’s club pickleball team, took home the collegiate world championship title at a three-day event in Dallas, Texas, in early November. Put on by the Professional Pickleball Association and Adidas, teams from all over the globe flocked to the Lone Star State for the competition.

While Searle and the Bison have now made pickleball history, the sport wasn’t always the plan for the Rio Rancho High School graduate.

“I started in tennis; I played for Rio Rancho High School,” Searle said. “I’ve played tennis since I was 7, a very long time.”

Searle’s plan, after graduating from RRHS in 2022, was to head to Utah Tech University, leaving her high school tennis career behind and prioritizing education en route to a bachelor’s degree.

But even before her move to St. George, the pickleball seeds had been planted.

“Probably around middle school, my dad and my grandpa introduced me and my family to pickleball, back when it was still wood paddles and not anything special,” Searle said. “I totally thought it was lame, but my dad ended up painting a pickleball court in our backyard, and so my friends and I played very recreationally, just for fun. I just kind of realized, ‘Oh, I’m actually kind of good at this.’”

Getting a taste of the game in her own backyard may have paid dividends in the long run, with her academic career taking her to the pickleball hotspot that is the state of Utah.

Still a recreational player, playing with her college buddies turned into challenging true competition, which led her to give the sport a real shot.

“I started paying for lessons from a coach down here in St. George, and then just practicing all the time,” Searle said. “I got in with a really good group of ladies that I play with, and one of the ladies ended up being the coach for the Utah Tech team. She actually recruited me, and so that’s how I ended up on the team, and then I played for a spot to go play at Worlds.”

Before she knew it, Searle was representing her university on the pickleball circuit, competing in regional tournaments and competitions.

Searle has been playing tennis since she was 7 and all the way through high school, so surely the transition to pickleball was smooth, right?

“Honestly, my game really started to improve when I let go of my tennis habits and played pickleball,” Searle said. “It’s a different sport. It really is.”

Fully locked in on her new passion, it feels like the sky is the limit for Searle and this Bison team. That was until their trip to Dallas gave them a scope on the pickleball landscape, and perhaps shrinking them back down to size.

In addition to the Utah Tech students, athletes came from India, China, Malaysia, Taiwan, Poland, Argentina and Brazil to compete in the first-of-its-kind world competition.

“I don’t think I realized how big it (the event) was,” Searle said. “I just thought it was another college tournament, and I showed up, and there was India, there was Taiwan, and all these teams are good. I didn’t even know pickleball existed outside of the U.S., if I’m being 100% honest.”

But what could’ve been a rude awakening was turned into a moment of opportunity as the Utah Tech team went undefeated all the way to the championship match, facing off with Team India with the title on the line.

After splitting the women’s and men’s doubles portions of the matchup, the championship came down to mixed doubles, where an intense 22-20 win sealed the deal for the Bison.

“There was definitely a moment of like, ‘Holy crap, what just happened?’ But after that, it was just like, ‘Hey, let’s go party. Let’s go get some good barbecue.’”

World titles and Texas smoked meats might be just the tip of the paddle for Searle’s career. Her goal is to keep on pursuing the sport if everything aligns just right.

“If I had it my way and money were not an object, I would love to put all my time and effort into going pro,” Searle said. “I love the community that surrounds it and would love to be able to take it to the next level, but I am also going to school right now and about to finish up my associate’s degree, so I’m not really sure on my exact next steps.”

Searle will return to the Utah Tech team next season, ideally turning some heads and getting her name thrown out into the professional space.

“I would love to be able to get some sort of sponsorship, to be able to do what I actually want to do with this, but it is a pretty expensive journey to go pro,” Searle said. “It’s definitely been a hard thing to deal with.”

Pro-bound or not, Searle’s team triumph in Texas shows that it may be time for New Mexico to fully hop on to the pickleball bandwagon.

“If you’re serious about it and it’s something you want to pursue, I would say, find a coach. Find someone,” Searle said. “I would say the most important thing is to find that coach. Because having a base foundation that is strictly pickleball is huge. If you’re serious about it, then find yourself a coach and start going to tournaments that aren’t just local.”